Plutobaby494: The next one is up!

Disclaimer: Do not own Criminal Minds!

ON WITH THE FICCIE

Chapter 3

The sky was still dark when the team assembled at the Quantico airport. They were all seated, each in their own comfort seats as the plane took off.

Gideon, Morgan and the girls were sitting all near each other, sharing their ideas on the unsub, while Reid was sitting a little ways away. Far enough so he wasn't near anyone but close enough so he could look like he was participating in the conversation. The senior profiler had eyed him briefly before turning his attention back to the team.

Hotch was sitting next to Emily when his cell phone went off. He searched the inner pockets of his blazer before pulling out his phone out and flipping it open, pressing by his ear.

"Hotchner," he said into the phone.

"Agent Hotchner, this is Dr. Grace calling," a sharp voice answered. He blinked and closed the folder in front of him.

"Yes," he said, standing up from the team and walking to the back of the plane where he wouldn't be easily overheard. He already knew who she was calling about.

"I just want to check in on Spencer, is he doing better?" she asked briskly. After what happened in Georgia, the bureau had ordered Reid to talk to their resident shrink. They needed to make sure that he was ready to come back to work.

"He's coping," Hotch answered, looking at the young man in question. He didn't know how to explain it. Reid seemed to be doing fine but something was wrong. He didn't know how to explain it.

"Is he? I know that you received my official transcripts and I did clear him for work with the exception that he continues to see me. His sessions have obviously been put on hold until he returns to Virginia but I am concerned, that is all! He's been through quite an ordeal," Dr. Grace replied not sounding concerned as concerned as she made out to be.

Hotch sighed.

"Is there any reason for concern?" he asked sounding like the usual cold profiler that he was know to be.

"I can't tell. Talking with anyone from your department is always a challenge because they know how to spin the truth and pass it off as an artform," Dr. Grace replied emotionlessly.

Hotch conceded her point and softened his voice for the next question.

"Doctor, I know that talking about his session would break doctor-patient confidentiality but I need to know for this case. Did Reid tell you about what happened in the cabin," he asked. She was silent for a few seconds.

"Bit's and pieces" she finally said, "He was very hesitant about talking about it but after I mentioned that he needed to be cleared before he would be able to return to work, he complied quite nicely,"

Hotch scowled. That was the last thing Reid needed right now.

"Thank you doctor," he said, curtly before hanging up on her. He never really liked her to begin with.

He looked back towards his team, who had all agreed to leave the brainstorming for when they got to Junction. It was a long flight and very early in the morning. They all decided it was best to get some rest, so they could focus more on the case than on their closing eyelids.

Morgan had lain on the couch, spreading his long legs out. Both JJ and Emily had chosen the recliners, and Reid had opted to stay at the table. Gideon had not left his original spot across from the young genius, wanting to stay as close as possible to the man he thought as his son.

Reid stared out the window, a solemn look crossing his thin face. The dark bags under his eyes stood out clearly against his pale skin. His whole body shook with exhaustion but he fought it off, knowing that if he gave in and slept, more dreams would come. And with the dreams, so would the questions. They both watched him carefully seeing he had given no indication that he was going to try to sleep.

Hotch watched as Reid wrapped his arms around his bony body, unconsciously protecting himself. He frowned at the familiar behavior and had an uncomfortable flashback to when Elle was still working on the team. She was very withdrawn too. Was this the beginning of something similar?

He remembered the conversation that he had just had with the psychiatrist and couldn't help scowling again. That woman had pushed and bullied an answer out of Reid. He hoped that Reid would open up in time and tell him on his own terms. It was the least he deserved. Hotch wasn't going to push Reid, he was just going to be there when he needed him.

He shared a glance with Gideon before walking over to a chair and plopping down in it, resting his tired body.

Jason was going to watch over Spencer tonight (or this morning as the sun was now rising in the horizon). Hotch rubbed his eyes tiredly and laid his head back, shutting them. He was asleep in minutes.

Gideon watched as Hotch drifted off, before tuning back towards Reid.

He stared at the young man for a moment and noticed Reid's eyes glance towards him every few seconds before quickly going back to the window. Reid knew he was watching him.

"You should try and get some sleep," Gideon said softly, not wanting to wake the others. Reid didn't hesitate with his answer.

"I'm not tired,"

Gideon expected this but that didn't mean he wasn't going to give up.

"Get some sleep, Reid. We need you at your best today," he said a little bit harder, trying not to hide the concern in his voice.

Reid didn't say anything at first but when he did, Gideon had to lean in closer to hear.

"I can't,"

Concern filled the older profiler at the sound of Reid's voice. He sounded scared.

"Do you want to talk?" Gideon asked hoping that Reid had finally decided to open up to someone.

Again Reid didn't make any move to answer and Gideon grew worried as different emotions flashed across his face, before disappearing. Indecision, fear, anger, shame. Each crossed his face as he clenched his lips together in a thin line.

"I'm fine," he answered finally, coming to a resolve.

Gideon nodded, saddened that Reid didn't open up to him but knew that he had pushed enough tonight.

He sighed again and looked away from Reid's face, the father in his heart awakening and wanting to comfort the broken man in front of him. He wanted so bad to gather Reid into his arms and hug him, letting him know that someone was here. But he knew that Reid would not appreciate the gesture.

Even before Hankel, Reid had not liked to be touched. He had seemed to warm up to them, letting the light touches against his arm and the hugs not bother him as much and even initiating it from time to time. But now he would flinch every time someone tried to, and it hurt the team knowing that they had lost his trust.

He watched as Reid winced and shut his eyes, wrapping his arms around himself harder. A shudder went down Reid's spine and he shook as some sort of spell overtook him. His breaths deepened and he seemed to be hyperventilating.

"Reid," Gideon called, worry clenching his heart.

It was like his voice snapped him out of whatever had held him a minute ago and he opened his eyes open quickly looking at the older man, panic filling his brown orbs.

Gideon, forgetting what he had been thinking about before reached over and grabbed Reid's bony shoulder, steadying the young man as he swayed. Reid reacted quickly, his body jerking out from under Gideon's touch so quickly that he smacked his other shoulder against the window.

Gideon shrunk back, hurt at the reaction but understood. In the heat of the moment he had lost his head.

Reid did not miss the hurt in his mentor's eyes and dropped his gaze to the table, ashamed.

"I'm sorry," he said, hating himself. He never wanted to see that expression in Gideon's eyes, especially knowing that he had caused it.

Gideon again wanted to hug Reid when he heard the self-loathing in his voice but knew he would get the same reaction as before.

Reid waited for the disappointed voice of his mentor to berate him and felt his heart break at the silence that followed instead. Gideon must hate him now.

He couldn't bear to hear the disgust he knew was coming, so he did the only thing he could do to protect himself. He ran.

With more energy than he had used since his kidnapping, he got up and almost ran towards the small bathroom. He shut the door and locked it, not wanting Gideon to follow. He didn't need to hear, what he already knew was going to come.

He collapsed against the small toilet and dry retched, having nothing –not even water- in his system to throw up.

Reid finally stopped, feeling his stomach settle and hoped that no one had woken up or heard him. He collapsed next to the toilet, much like this morning and felt his esophagus burn as he had thrown up twice in less than two hours.

He listened to make sure that Gideon hadn't followed him and felt his messenger bag dig into his back. He opened his eyes in shock and remembered that he hadn't taken it off when he had first sat down on the plane.

He felt the pull of the drugs as they became more powerful and clenched his fists, trying to resist.

Gideon's angry face flashed before his eyes and he felt his resolve weaken. The drugs were winning. He had his sleeve rolled up and the needle cap off when a soft but persistent knocking at the folding doors broke him out of his spell.

"Reid, are you ok?" Morgan asked from behind the closed door. He must have woken his partner up when he ran by.

"I'm fine. I guess the breakfast I had this morning didn't agree with me," he answered capping the needle once again. It was stupid to assume the rest of the team—or whoever was awake—didn't hear his retching.

"You sure man,"

"I'm fine. I'll be out in a minute," Reid answered trying to sound normal. He used the toilet seat to climb up from his position on the floor and then stepped over to the sink, realizing he might want to freshen up a bit before going to face the music.

Turning the small nob, cold water rushed out of the tap and into his shaking hands. He hissed in pain as the water stung against the small wounds his fingernails had made only a couple hours earlier.

The small red wounds glared at him angrily and burned fiercely. They started to bleed and Reid sighed, knowing that he had aggravated them enough. He needed to take care of them in case they got infected.

He ran his wounded hand under the cold water, ignoring the sting, and with a piece of paper towel, gently cleaned them with the soap from the dispenser, biting his lip to stop the hissing sounds from escaping.

He grabbed a piece of long cloth from his bag and a bobby pin, wrapping it around his hand, bandaging the wound.

When he was done he looked at himself in the mirror one last time, cataloging the purple bruise like marks under his swollen and red eyes before opening the small door and exiting the bathroom. Emily and JJ were surprisingly still asleep but Hotch had awoken and had been filled in by the looks of it. Gideon and Morgan were both waiting for him but he brushed off their concern with false truths and continued his way back to a new seat. He ignored the worried looks he got as he walked to the back of the plane where nobody was sitting and collapsed on the chair. He felt Gideon's eyes on him as he took a seat as far away from the man as he could.

&

The plane landed in Junction a couple hours later. It was around five in the morning when the members of the BAU stepped out into the arid desert climate. Even in the early mornings, Utah was still as dry as ever. They looked to the east where the sun was rising and felt the warm rays against their skin.

A sheriff's car parked a couple yards away from the plane, shinned as the sun gleamed off the surface. It was than that they noticed a man in uniform walking towards them.

He was tall, with floppy dark brown hair that reached past his ears. If he did not have the face of complete seriousness, they could have sworn that the sheriff was just a kid. No older than Reid.

"Welcome to Junction, Utah," he said in a friendly voice, despite the reason why they were here.

Hotch stepped forward and grabbed the man's offered hand, shaking it.

"I'm Agent Hotchner, this is Agents Gideon, Morgan, Prentiss, Reid, and Jareau, our media liaison," he introduced each of them in turn.

The sheriff nodded hello to each of them, before introducing himself.

"I'm Sheriff Andy Williams, and that is my deputy sitting in the front seat of my car. Richard Perry," Andy said, pointing to the gruff looking guy still sitting in the cop cruiser. Richard looked at them briefly before scowling and turning away.

Andy scratched the back of his head, his face turning red from embarrassment.

"Sorry bout him, he's a good cop but doesn't have a very good beside manner," Andy said.

It was JJ who spoke up instead of Hotch.

"Don't worry, we've had a few of him in our time," she said calmly.

Andy nodded, dropping his hand.

"Well, shall we go?" he said, turning back towards the cop cruiser. It was than that they noticed another behind it.

"Sorry about the transportation, Junctions not as big as the capital, but we got some most of what we need here," he said, as they walked.

"It's no problem" Gideon said, briskly. He looked at Reid, who was walking next to Morgan on the other side of their group.

Reid couldn't look his mentor in the eye but felt his eyes on him. He was going to show Gideon that he could do this, that he was ok.

"Thanks for coming anyway, as I said before we're not that big of town and murder is very uncommon. This is actually my first since I started for the force" Andy said swallowing the lump that appeared in his throat.

"It's always hard to see this kind of stuff, even for us who deal with this every day," Hotch said, feeling pity for the man. Andy was obviously a kind soul that didn't deal with this every day. He wished they could all be that innocent.

Andy nodded, thankful.

They approached the cop cars and piled in. Hotch, Emily, and Gideon took the same car as Andy and Richard, while Morgan headed for the next one with Reid and JJ in tow. Reid made sure that he didn't get into the same car as Gideon.

He looked out the window at the rising sun and felt the dry summer heat start to penetrate his skin.

TO BE CONTINEUD

Plutobaby494: Alrighty! I put the next one up! I plan to put this story up a lot faster then my other stories because I realize that a lot of people were miffed that we're starting all over again! And for those who are still reviewing! Thanks! I appreciate it, a lot!

Tangledsphere, tearbos, TheLovetheif!

PLEASE R&R